Lyman-α constraints on cosmic heating from dark matter annihilation and decay

Journal Article · 12 August 2021 · Physical Review. D.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.104.043514 · OSTI ID:1851049

Liu, Hongwan  ^[1]; Qin, Wenzer  ^[2]; Ridgway, Gregory W. ^[2]; Slatyer, Tracy R.  ^[2]

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1. New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States); Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); OSTI
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

We derive new constraints on models of decaying and annihilating dark matter (DM) by requiring that the energy injected into the intergalactic medium (IGM) not overheat it at late times, when measurements of the Lyman-α forest constrain the IGM temperature. We improve upon previous analyses by using the recently developed DarkHistory code package, which self-consistently takes into account additional photoionization and photoheating processes due to reionization and DM sources. Our constraints are robust to the uncertainties of reionization and competitive with leading limits on sub-GeV DM that decays preferentially to electrons

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Princeton University, NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0007968; SC0011090; SC0012567; SC0013999
• OSTI ID: 1851049
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D., Journal Name: Physical Review. D. Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 104; ISSN 2470-0010
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English